Various Artists

Truth & Soul: Fallin' Off the Reel II

Truth & Soul; 2008

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Truth & Soul may have been founded in 2004, but it works more like an old-school soul label, with a collective of musicians playing in the studio and contributing to each other's records. About all that's missing is the authoritarian businessman. Instead, label founders Leon "El" Michels and Jeff Silverman are musicians and enthusiasts for the days when Revilot, Atco, Brunswick, Motown, Vee-Jay, Stax, and others filled the bins with 45s. They even seem enthusiastic about the 45 format itself, having steadily released a small flood of them over the past four years. If you missed out on those-- most were issued in small batches-- or simply don't own a record player, here's your chance to get caught up: This is the second volume compiling their 45s, this one covering everything from 2006 forward (they haven't made a big deal out of it, but vinyl lovers who buy the double LP are treated to quite a few bonus tracks, a nice nod and wink to their main constituency).

The singles are presented chronologically, which works fine. The Bronx River Parkway single that starts things off is a strong opener. This venerable Latin soul band goes back for decades, and their two 45s are highlights of the compilation. "La Valla" is a perfect exercise in sharp 1970s-style funk, with staccato verses full of economical horn, bass, and guitar parts and legato choruses that let the horns stretch out more melodically. The bare-bones production suits it well.

Other highlights include veteran soul singer Lee Fields' "Love Comes and Goes", which backs his gritty soul shout with a large chorus of singers-- an unusual texture that gives the song a participatory feel, as though these people were just sitting around and couldn't help singing along. El Michels Affair checks in with four good tracks, and these are where the compilation deviates most from its revivalist sound template. "PJ's", featuring Wu-Tang's Raekwon, is excellent live-band hip-hop with a great, icy keyboard hook. Previously unreleased bonus track "Odyssey Revised", by the Fabulous Three, is driven along by a burbling bass line and has a three-part horn arrangement to die for. It sounds like something that could've come out on Strata in the early 70s.

There are a few tracks that don't hit the mark, most notably the two Motown covers. Timothy McNealy's version of "What's Going On" is muddled and loses the immediacy of the original by falling short of its grace (the B-side, a country-soul cover of Al Green's "I'm So Glad You're Mine", fares much better) and the Funky Music Machine drains all the air from the Four Tops' "I Can't Help Myself". It mostly just makes me miss Levi Stubbs. Still, I can deal with a couple of duds on an otherwise good compilation of modern old soul, and it's nice to have all this stuff in one easy-to-access place, even if it doesn't reward the collector spirit the same way the 45s do.